Four young cricketers are making a name for themselves on the North Yorkshire field after securing places in the Under 13 Team, with one student, Max Percival, scouted for the Yorkshire County squad.
Max Percival, Joe White, Jack Platt and Isaac Bottomley, all Year 8 students at Richmond School and Sixth Form College, are proud to be representing North Yorkshire, and are playing to an excellent standard with Max delighted to be representing the Yorkshire team.
Max was selected for the Yorkshire team when their coach spotted him playing at a North Yorkshire game. He has already taken part in a training day in Leeds and played in his first match. Max has always been renowned for his bowling excellence, however this year his batting has been exceptional too, making him a highly-sought-after all rounder. Max’s dedication to cricket is impressive and he plays cricket most days of the week locally, as well as attending Yorkshire training days and matches.
On being selected to play for Yorkshire, Max said: “I started to play cricket when I was eight years old and it is the sport that many members of my family have played so I have grown up living and breathing cricket. I am very proud to be representing the whole of Yorkshire, but equally honoured to play for my school, Richmond and North Yorkshire. All the teams are very important to me and I have had some great experiences and made some very good friends through cricket.”
The students are delighted to be out on the pitch again and have recently won their first match of the season for Richmond School, beating St Aidan’s School in Harrogate by 26 runs, taking them to the quarter finals of the Joe Root Challenge Cup. In addition, the students play for Richmond Cricket Club’s Under 13 team, together with team mate Oliver Ashton, another promising young local cricketer who has also been selected for the North Yorkshire and Yorkshire squads. The Richmond CC team is coached by Mike White, alumnus of Richmond School & Sixth Form College, and Executive Headteacher Synergy Schools (Brompton-on-Swale and Crakehall Primary Schools). Due to the students’ high playing standard, they also play alongside the adults at Richmond Cricket Club, representing the Richmond 5th team in the Darlington District League.
Mark Swanwick, PE Teacher and cricket coach at Richmond School & Sixth Form College, said: “We certainly have some rising stars in our Year 8 squad and it is most impressive that four of our players have made the North Yorkshire team, as well as Max securing a prestigious place with Yorkshire. They have played together for a number of years and I am delighted that, in spite of missing so much cricket due to Covid, they have continued to train hard and their skill and commitment to the game has only grown. They are a huge credit to themselves, the school, their families and the teams they represent.”